‘One moment I was living in a leaky shoe box...’
Not long ago I was invited to take part in a radio phone-in. As I was ushered into
the studio the presenter looked up from the console, ran his eyes over me, then
stood up and shook my hand. ‘Welcome’, he smiled. ‘I must say, you don’t look like
the sort of slink-pot who writes books on confidence.’
I knew exactly what he meant. We’ve all seen those silky-smooth characters with
designer suits, perfect hair and cosmetic teeth beaming at us from the glossy
covers of self-help books and magazines.
I have great respect for the work of some of these people, but many of them come
across, by their actions if not by their words, as having one main interest in life –
making money, and lots of it. Some are like the character in the Monty Python
sketch: ‘One moment I was living in a shoe box in the gutter, then I discovered the
secret, and 12 months later I owned a chateau overlooking the sea, a fleet of stretch
limousines and a private plane, a holiday home on a tropical island and an ocean-
going yacht. I’d met and married the perfect woman and we’re well on the way to
having six perfect children.’
Whether or not you wish to emulate such people is, of course, a personal matter, as
long as you don’t delude yourself into thinking you will automatically find happi-
ness and peace of mind merely by accumulating wealth. This is not what
confidence is about. Confident people have no need to show off, or impose them-
selves on others. They may have high expectations of themselves, but they also
know their self-worth is independent of their achievements and that they don’t
always have to be perfect....
and they don’t have to be slink pots!
2 HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU?